APPROVAL OF JOURNAL

The Faculty Senate Journal
for the regular session of September 8, 2003 was approved.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

A committee has been
established to make recommendations about the proposed revisions in the
regents’ policy manual (see 9/03 Senate Journal).David Levy (History) will chair the
committee.Other members are Hugh Benson
(Philosophy), Sheena Murphy (Physics & Astronomy), Mike Scaperlanda (Law),
and Frans Currier (HSC-Dentistry).The
manual will be a compilation of the various university policies, which will
give the regents a kind of one-stop shopping.The committee will meet later this month and then will bring a report to
the Faculty Senate.

A committee will review the
issue of renewable term faculty, particularly the form of representation on the
senate (see 9/03 Senate Journal).The
faculty members who have agreed to serve on the committee are Steve Bradford
(History), Marielle Hoefnagels (Zoology), Roy Knapp (Petroleum & Geological
Engineering), Steve Livesey (History of Science), Susan Marcus-Mendoza (Human
Relations), Valerie Watts (Music), and Kathy Onley (HSC-Nutrition Sciences/Allied
Health).Prof. Susan Marcus-Mendoza
agreed to chair the committee.Prof.
McInerney pointed out that faculty members in similar positions at the HSC have
voting privileges.

Provost Mergler asked the
senate to identify peer institutions for assessing where we are now and where
we want to be (see 9/03 Senate Journal).A committee has been formed, composed of the following faculty:Mike Buckley (Management), Jim Davis
(Journalism & Mass Communication), Gene Enrico (Music), David Gross
(English), Penny Hopkins (Zoology), Peter Krug (Law), Simin Pulat (Industrial
Engineering), and David Tan (Educational Leadership & Policy Studies). In addition, UOSA will appoint two
students.

STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT
DAVID BOREN

President David Boren distributed
some handouts (available from the senate office) to bring the group up to date
on some of the statistical information.He
said this was the first opportunity he had to express his appreciation to
faculty members for the spirit in which they had gone through the tough times.He said he hated to have his string broken on
improvement in compensation each year.At
least state revenue collections have been coming in slightly above the
projections.He is acutely aware of the
sacrifices that have been made, not only because of the lack of compensation
improvements, but also because of increases in health insurance.As a result of the huge losses we were
experiencing trying to self insure, we had to join the state insurance
fund.Even with that, we still are
facing an increase of about $4 million.One way of looking at that is the $4 million is roughly equal to a three
percent across-the-board compensation increase.Health insurance remains a problem, not just for the university or Oklahoma; it is a national problem.It has meant a decrease in take-home pay,
especially for people with dependents.To
have kept the forward momentum of the university is a tremendous credit to the
faculty and staff.He very much
appreciates the sacrifice that everyone has made.Even in these difficult times, we had the
lowest turnover of faculty this year than we have had in the past 20
years.The same kind of low turnover
occurred with staff this year.That
shows the unbelievable commitment to the institution by our faculty and staff.Public higher education across the country
has been decimated over the last two or three years.It is a matter of tremendous concern since public institutions bear the heaviest load of training our
future leadership.Nothing could be
worse for our country than disinvesting in public higher education.

Our goal has been to control
the growth of the freshman class through increased standards and a wait list system.This is the first year we have succeeded in
holding steady the size of our freshman class and in fact, had a slight decrease.By controlling the overall enrollment, we can
maintain a quality experience.The percentage
of our freshman class coming from Texas has tripled in ten years.Our average ACT and SAT scores for freshmen
are virtually the same as those for the University of Texas-Austin.The quality of our university is improving, yet
we are maintaining a reasonable size.The
only growth we want is in retention and improved graduation rates.Those are the only two statistics that hold us
back from achieving higher rankings.The
quality of our students continues to go up.Our freshman class this year had a 25.8 average ACT.In 1993, we had only 2200 first-time freshmen,
which led to questions about how sustainable our university would be.On the other hand, it is difficult to
maintain the kind of institution we have when we get above the 3800 mark.The provost brings him the concerns of the faculty when we have too many students.

OU has the highest graduation
rate of student-athletes in the Big 12.That
speaks to our priority to treat our student-athletes as students and not just
as athletes to be exploited.

The good news in compensation
is in spite of what we have been through in the last three years, we have not
lost our position in total faculty compensation (salaries and benefits, adjusted
for cost of living).We have climbed
into fourth place.Our goal is to remain firmly in the top three
in the Big 12 so that faculty compensation will not be a serious factor when we
are trying to recruit and retain faculty.Other institutions have announced plans to raise tuition and fees
annually so they can increase faculty compensation.Our faculty continues to do an incredible job
of bringing in additional dollars.We
lead the Big 12 in federally-funded research.We are at the bottom of the Big 12 in tuition and fees for in-state students.Because the most important thing for the
quality of education of our students is the quality of our faculty, we should
get on a plan in which we have modest increases in tuition and fees on an
annual basis, with slightly higher increases for new students.He will work with student leaders on an
orderly tuition and fee schedule that keeps us on an even keel each year.We will not have substantially more funds
coming from private endowment, and the state is unlikely to increase
appropriations.

President Boren’s first ten goals
are a salary program.It is absolutely
essential to continue to retain and recruit quality faculty and staff.The regents agree.Nothing is more critical.Otherwise, it is hard to keep up morale.Some of the other states are having some economic
recovery, and they will put the priority on compensation programs.Through a reasonable adjustment on an annual
basis in tuition and fees and some increases in appropriations from the state,
we ought to be able to have a salary program.We provided financial assistance to 2500 more students than we did last
year.The Sooner Heritage Scholarships were
started last year to provide scholarships for middle income students impacted
by the increase in tuition and fees.The
average award was $400-$500 per student.About half of the money was raised privately, and the rest came out of the
university budget.President Boren said
several forums were held with students, and he sent out about 60,000 letters and
e-mails to continuing students and to parents explaining why we had to increase
tuition and fees.He received fewer than
20 negative responses.A tremendous
number told him how much they value the quality of education at OU.As a result of state revenues running ahead, the
university received about $1 million back from the state.He has been in discussions about what to do
with those funds.One option is a one-time
small bonus.Another possibility is to try
to weave it into a permanent salary program that would start next year.At any rate, those funds will go into faculty
and staff compensation.He said he
welcomed input on the issue.He hopes to
decide how to handle the funds by the next regents’ meeting.

The number of endowed chairs
and professorships has grown tremendously.However, in recent months only three or four have been donated.The reason is we have over $40 million on the
waiting list for the state to match.Some have waited three years.The
wait has become a disincentive.In order
to catch up this backlog, the state regents have been looking at the
possibility of a bond issue as a revenue source.One of our goals for the legislature this
next year is to find a way to wipe out that backlog.It is a tremendous boost to the morale of the
donor to get acquainted with the faculty member who holds the chair or professorship
that s/he made possible and find out how the funds have been used.Another important goal in the legislature is
to get OHLAP (Oklahoma Higher Learning Access Program) funded by the state as a
separate entity.The program provides college
scholarships to students who have entered into a contract, taken certain
courses, and maintained a B average.It
is a wonderful program, but it has never been funded by the legislature, and the
number continues to grow.The funding
comes off the top of the state regents’ allocation.The president said he was hopeful that
revenues from a lottery or cigarette tax could pay for OHLAP.If OHLAP had been funded out of the state
budget, it probably would have meant about $3 million more for OU this year, roughly
the equivalent of a 2.5 percent increase in compensation.

We have been making gains in
our faculty/student ratio over the last eight years.This last year, we had only slight growth in
faculty FTE because we did not have the funds.At least the university did not have the cuts that many institutions
had.We avoided cuts in the library
during the lean years.We managed to
provide a million dollar net increase to the library for six years and to move
up to second place in the Big 12 in terms of total volumes.A few years ago, our target in the rankings
was Kansas.We have now
moved ahead of them.

We continue to try to pare
our administrative costs.Among state
institutions, the OU Norman campus has the lowest administrative cost overhead based
on the state regents’ calculation.

In federally-financed
research and development expenditures, we lead the Big 12 in annual percentage
growth from 1990 to 2000.We will undoubtedly
crack the $200 million mark in externally-funded research and training grants this
year, which means we more than doubled during the decade.The overhead cost from these grants is shared
to some degree with the rest of the university.The governor, chancellor, and business leaders are leading an effort
called EDGE to create economic growth in the state.There has been some talk about limiting the
state match for endowed chairs and professors to areas that are related to
economic growth.President Boren thinks
that would be a terrible mistake.The university
is the greatest engine for future economic growth of the state, but even more
importantly, we are producing the next generation of leaders.Our top priority is educating broad-gauged
men and women.Our main purpose is not
to be some kind of adjunct resource to the economic growth of the state, but to
teach in all areas that give quality to human life.

Contributions to the university
continue to grow.We have almost $88
million in cash and in-kind gifts.As we
exhaust the donors who can give large gifts, the contributions will drop back
some.A reasonable goal is to hold
ourselves at $60 million, which is still three times what it used to be in the
late 1980s and early 1990s.It is important
to broaden the base of donors.To be a
great public university, we will have to rely more on sources of income other
than the state.We are going to have to
stay at a reasonable level of tuition, grow in research, and broaden the private
donor base.Faculty and staff giving means
a lot to the president and is a huge vote of confidence.Total private fundraising—gifts and
pledges—has increased from $41 million for FY95 to about $770 million for FY03.Endowment funds are at almost $600 million,
triple what it was in 1994.We are in
the top 25 of public universities in private endowment, which is an extraordinary
achievement in a state that ranks something like 47th in per capita
income.One thing that builds allegiance
to the university is our alumni activity.In the past three years, the number of alumni clubs grew from 44 to 103,
and club activity grew from 1303 events to 5076.In the ten-year period before 2000, we had
$28 million in planned gifts; in just the last two years, we have had $25
million in bequests.

Prof. Burns commented that
some things like tuition waivers for family members would help morale.President Boren said he had urged employees
to have their children apply for the Sooner Heritage scholarships.Every faculty and staff child who applied
received a scholarship.We have never
been able to afford to fully fund dependent tuition waivers, but we provided
some help this year.The Athletic
Department gave $2 million to our academic budget, through the $2 fee added to
each football ticket and the payment on the past debt.The Athletic Department has been escalating the
payments toward the debt.Our coaches set
up a trust fund for the library and have given a couple hundred thousand
dollars or more to that fund.By next
fall, there will be a small exercise facility for men and women employees in
the next phase of the stadium improvements.We have not been able to reduce ticket prices because we want to make
sure we can make our bond payments on the athletic facilities.

Prof. Ransom asked whether there
was any way to reduce the cost of parking. President Boren said he thought the answer was
to get the compensation of faculty up.We
will continue to add surface parking, and we are getting better utilization from
students of the parking at the LloydNobleCenter.The frequency
of our transit system has doubled.We will
not have the big growth in student numbers again.OU is one of only two in the Big 12 that does
not charge employees for health insurance.Increases in the cost of dependent insurance and in parking burn more when
you have not had increases in compensation.His strategy is to put all the effort he can into a compensation
package.He will try to hold the costs
down.Making the Lloyd Noble shuttle
service effective will reduce the pressure.

Prof. Yuan suggested that median
rather than average salary and benefits would be a better indication of the
economic status of the faculty.President
Boren said he thought we would be in the same place if we used median.College by college, there is a tremendous
disparity in the numbers.To recruit a
faculty member in one area may cost more than in another area.Also, we are facing enrollment bulges in some
places and compression problems.The
president said he would like to increase the compensation for promotions and as
soon as we can afford it, add some additional dollars retroactively.Some areas of the university are doing
relatively well, whereas other areas are not doing as well.That is another reason to encourage donors
across the board.President Boren
pointed out that he meets with the senate executive committee every month and discusses
how to divide compensation dollars and how much should go to compression, under-funded
areas, merit, and across the board.He
encouraged the senate members to tell the executive committee any thoughts they
had about compensation.

He said he did not like to
ask students and their parents to increase their financial commitment to the university
and did not like to be able to express in a tangible way the respect he has for
faculty and staff.Our standards have not
stopped going up. He is guardedly
optimistic about what we can do this year.

SENATE CHAIR'S REPORT, by Prof. Mike
McInerney

“I would like to congratulate
Dr. George Henderson for his recent induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame
and Oklahoma Educators Hall of Fame.Dr.
Henderson has made numerous contributions to our university and the State of Oklahoma, and this recent recognition is well deserved.

“Human Resources Director Julius
Hilburn and Benefits Manager Nick Kelly gave the senate executive committee an
update on the request for proposal (RFP) for health insurance.The
employment benefits committee was asked to rank six components for judging
proposals, and the committee thought cost/premium and access were the top two
priorities. Additional considerations
are care management, health management, satisfaction, and program management. Julius and Nick have and will continue to work
with the employment benefits committee and the faculty welfare committee and
will keep the senate and the senate executive committee informed of the
progress.

“Nick Kelly asked me to
remind you that tomorrow is the last day to change the benefits package. The new basic plan may be good for some people.
Nick mentioned, though, that individuals
should seriously consider their financial situation since this plan has more
risk associated with it. In a
catastrophe, the out-of-pocket expense for a family could be $11,000. Also, there is a flexible spending plan where
you can take pretax dollars to pay for health costs that are not covered by the
insurance plan. The IRS now allows over-the-counter
items and day care costs to be paid by this plan. Remember that if the funds are not spent, they
are lost at the end of the year. This is
one way to offset some of the costs, and it does save the university money as
well.

“Al Schwarzkopf (MIS) is our
faculty representative to the Faculty Advisory Council to the State Regents. He mentioned that the representatives from
higher education have similar concerns about out-of-state
access and rate structure for multiple children for health coverage. The approach will be to try to get all of
higher education (50,000 employees) to work on this. Such a large body should be able to have a
better bargaining position with Health Choice. President Boren agreed and
will draft a resolution about this for the Presidents’ Council.Hopefully, if we cannot get a better plan, we
can get HealthChoice to be more responsive to our particular needs.

“The faculty compensation
committee recommended that faculty receive recognition for long-term service,
something like staff currently get, as a way to say thanks for being here a
long time. The committee will make
suggestions concerning the type of awards to be given.

“The senate executive
committee met with Theta Dempsey, Parking office, to discuss some of the issues
brought to our attention. The problem of
spaces on the west side of campus is not one that can be solved soon. We talked to her about issues raised by the Fine
Arts College related to performances.The
decision to charge to park for performances was made in 1994 to help finance
the facility. Enforcement has been
sporadic after the parking attendant and gates were removed, but current policy
was developed with the Dean of Fine Arts last year. The lot north of the Boyd House is available
in the evening, even for students without permits, for parking for rehearsals
or performances. Regarding loading and
unloading, there are loading zone passes that can be used. The construction has caused some problems
related to access during the day. If
there are continuing problems, Bill Forester, A&E Services, is project
coordinator and can work with contractors on this. The Parking office will work with the dean to
address any issues related to performances, etc. Regarding a question that was raised at last
month’s meeting about donor permits, the yellow donor permits cannot be used to
park in the Dale Hall lot.

“An issue was raised about some of the tests that international students have
to take if they want to hold a teaching assistantship. I talked to Janis Paul, Graduate Dean’s
office, who oversees the examinations given to international student teaching
assistants. No new tests are being
given. The tests that are given are
needed to meet state demands for instruction. She is planning an informational session on
this. Individuals with concerns and suggestions are welcome to attend.

“The Provost and I discussed
the possibility of establishing a Provost Advisory Committee (PAC) to oversee
long-term, classroom maintenance. The
committee would carry forward the work being done this year by an ad hoc
committee. The PAC would involve faculty
and individuals from information technology, physical plant, classroom
scheduling, etc. This will provide a
comprehensive and coordinated plan to maintain and improve classrooms across
campus.The President is in agreement on
this as well.

“In discussing the recent
admonition case with the Provost, I think that it is important for every
faculty member to become familiar with the information that is available on the
Provost web site concerning admonition and academic misconduct. Departments should discuss the new changes to
the policy, especially how they plan to distinguish between admonition and
misconduct. Any suggestions or questions
should be sent to the Provost office. The academic integrity of our institution is
the paramount concern. The Provost
will try to engage the students in the process to help change the culture on
this.”

FACULTY DEVELOPMENT AWARD GUIDELINES

The faculty development award
guidelines (attached;
see 9/03 Senate Journal) were approved on a voice vote.

ELECTION, COUNCILS/COMMITTEES/BOARDS

The senate approved the
following nominations of the senate committee on committees to fill vacancies
on university and campus councils, committees and boards.

EXERCISE FACILITY

Prof. McInerney reported that
he had asked Claren Kidd (University Libraries), Cecilia Brown (Library &
Information Studies), Craig Hofford (Health Promotion Programs), Andy Magid
(Mathematics), Debra Bemben (Health & Sport Sciences), and Mike Bemben (Health
& Sport Sciences) to serve on an ad hoc committee to help plan the exercise
facility for faculty and staff (see President Boren’s earlier remarks).They will meet with Larry Naifeh (Athletic
Department), who is overseeing the development, to discuss the kinds of
equipment to include.The architectural plans
will go to the regents soon.The
committee would like this to be a free facility.

NEW BUSINESS

Prof. Marcus-Mendoza
explained that when faculty in her department had trouble with their computers,
the information technology (IT) office charged her account without her
authorization.She said it was not clear
what services the units were supposed to get from IT, and whether they are
charged or not.Prof. McInerney asked
her to write up the specifics, and he would get them to the Information
Technology Council.He noted that Vice
President for Information Technology Dennis Aebersold wanted to get everyone on
a lease program so we could regularly update computers.A plan has been developed to provide help to
more individuals across campus.Mr.
Aebersold will come to the next meeting to answer questions.Prof. Marcus-Mendoza remarked that her
college had moved to the lease program, but the departments had not received
anything in writing in terms of what was part of the service and what IT charged.Prof. McInerney said he was aware of service
contracts in which a department could hire IT to fix anything wrong with a
computer.Prof. Marcus-Mendoza said when
IT fixed the virus problem for her faculty, IT told them they would have to buy
a service contract for $90 before they would be reconnected to the Internet.This issue came up in the last Arts &Sciences
chair and director meeting.

ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at 5:00 p.m.The next
regular session of the Faculty Senate will be held at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, November 10, 2003, in Jacobson Faculty Hall 102.